Citizen CW-01 - What we Think! Our views on the Citizen CW-01 Printer.

At System Insight we are impartial when it comes to advice on which product to buy. We would never consider selling anything that we didn't consider to be a good product. Our aim is to help you acquire the product that is right for you.

By giving you a complete overview of this printer, it will help you make the decision as to which printer or printers are suited to your specific requirements. Please feel free to contact us for more information or photo samples to help you decide.


Overview of the CW-01
The Citizen CW-01 is a very well built piece of equipment that comes from a company with many years of high quality and high precision manufacturing experience.

Whilst Citizen are mostly known for manufacturing high quality watches, they also make a wide range of electronic equipment and specialist printers for a variety of different markets. By intoducing the CW-01 they enter the Dye Sub Photo market with one of the fastest printers available. The CW-01 uses its proprietary powerful high-performance engine called 'PSS-II', which provides quiet, high-speed printing. This powerful engine incorporates double-buffer memory management and advanced print head control circuitry.

The build quality is superb and although the printer is relatively heavy (25Kg), it can still be considered a portable unit.

Print Size & Media Options
Print Size is determined by the media used in the Printer. Ribbon & Paper Consumables

Print Speed
The Citizen CW-01 is an impressive new dye sublimation printer that prints a 6 x 4 photo in just 8 seconds!

Print Quality
Print quality is excellent. Although the print resolution can be increased to 600dpi with a slight loss of speed, a resolution of 344dpi does, in our opinion, produce a superb image of exceptional detail and so makes this of interest to event photographers who see quality and speed as essential. Learn why dye sublimation produces a higher quality photo from a lower dpi.

Requirements
A CW-01 will operate between 100v-240v supply and can also be run from an inverter if being used away from mains power in a car or caravan etc. Contact us for more details

Maintenance
Simple - None required! Just keep changing the ribbon and paper roll when they are exhausted.

Compatibility
Currently only Windows 2000 / XP Compatible.

What we like about the CW-01
The CW-01 is a very nice printer; it looks & feels very well made indeed. It produces superb quality images, which are printed without fuss and printed quickly and quietly. This printer is a most appropriate choice for the professional photographer.

What we don't like about the CW-01
Not at lot really! Its weight of 25kg might put some users off.

Other Considerations
Depending upon your requirements, you may also want to consider the Hi-Ti 730PS printer. The 730PS is a lot cheaper, but can only print photos up to 8x6 and needs the media replacing every 30 images. Its dominant feature however, is that it can be operated stand alone without the need for a PC. It will print photos directly from any digital camera memory card and its small size and light weight make it truly portable when used via an inverter in your car or caravan etc. In our opinion this printer used as an alternative to or in partnership with the Citizen CW-01, provides an ideal photo printing solution anywhere anytime.

Print Speed on the 730PS is about 90 seconds for an 8x6, though for a very much lower purchase price. Should speed be an issue, this could be possibly overcome by buying two 730 printers to run simultaneously!

In our opinion it is the number of images you need to produce that dictates the printer you need. If you need speed and a lower cost per print, then the CW-01 takes some beating. If you need stand alone facilities and don't have as many images to print, then we recommend giving the 730 series careful attention.